Will & Grace Season 11 Episode 16, "We Love Lucy" Will & Grace Review: We Love Lucy (Season 11 Episode 16) Will & Grace Season 11 Episode 16, "We Love Lucy"

Will & Grace Review: We Love Lucy (Season 11 Episode 16)

Reviews, Will and Grace

It’s not hard to see the comparisons between Will & Grace and classic comedy, I Love Lucy. Both comedies benefitted from the special chemistry between their four core actors, set new standards for comedy, and hold special places within the cultural zeitgeist.

You can see Lucy‘s DNA all across Will & Grace, most notably in its reliance on physical comedy and its leading lady’s uncanny similarities to Lucille Ball herself, which we’ve highlighted before.

Because of that, it’s almost surprising that the show hasn’t done a Lucy tribute before. It’s a natural choice but with only three episodes left in the season, why did they decide to do this now?

Make no mistake, the production values, attention to detail, and nostalgia factor in Will & Grace Season 11 Episode 16 “We Love Lucy” are exceptional but it’s still a somewhat baffling choice, almost as though knowing it was the end, show runners decided to go for their every last whim.

Will & Grace Season 11 Episode 16, "We Love Lucy"
WILL & GRACE — “We Love Lucy” Episode 316 — Pictured: (l-r) Eric McCormack as Will Truman/Ricky, Debra Messing as Grace Adler/Lucy — (Photo by: Chris Haston/NBC)

I could debate the necessity of this episode for days, especially within a season that’s felt so light on content and serialized storylines already, but the fact remains that it is brilliantly executed and a love letter both to the classic sitcom as well as the relationships between the Will & Grace characters.

When this episode was announced, I like so many, assumed that Debra Messing would step into the role of Lucy, one bawdy, physical redhead celebrating another bawdy, physical redhead.

She does — and superbly I might add — but the show wisely doesn’t stop there.

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In a more creative spin, Sean Hayes and Megan Mullally also get their own turns as Lucy. Each takes a crack at a classic Lucy moment and all three portrayals have a distinctly different energy (the three also all take turns playing Ethel and Fred).

Will & Grace Season 11 Episode 16, "We Love Lucy"
WILL & GRACE — “We Love Lucy” Episode 316 — Pictured: (l-r) Debra Messing as Grace Adler/Ethel, Lucie Arnaz as Factory Boss, Sean Hayes as Jack McFarland/Lucy — (Photo by: Dave Bjerke/NBC)

Messing is tasked with paying homage to the classic Vitameatavegamin episode, a moment that plays just as well as it did in the 1950s. Watching Messing and Ball’s portrayals back to back, it’s hard to find a single misstep in Messing’s send-up. It’s a pitch perfect ode to one of the most famous moments in television comedy.

It’s also a perfect match for Grace as a character, who often unwittingly and good-naturedly stumbles into trouble.

Sean Hayes, and Jack, by extension, has always had an overly-excitable energy, so it follows that he’s given the frantic candy wrapping scene to reenact.

Jack’s professional ventures very rarely pan out and much like Lucy, he’s often scraping through situations with an equally goofy sidekick (interesting that they didn’t have Megan Mullally play Ethel in this one; those parallels would have been funny, especially given earlier episodes this season).

Will & Grace Season 11 Episode 16, "We Love Lucy"
WILL & GRACE — “We Love Lucy” Episode 316 — Pictured: (l-r) Megan Mullally as Karen Walker/Lucy, Leslie Jordan as Beverly Leslie — (Photo by: Tina Thorpe/NBC)

Mullally’s Lucy is distinctly different from Messing and Hayes, who both try to do more faithful portrayals. No, Mullally’s Lucy (and honestly, Mullally’s Fred and Ethel) still has shades of Karen, complete with a martini glass. Karen’s one-of-a-kind, even when she’s in an I Love Lucy dream sequence.

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If Messing gets the most expansive scene, Hayes gets the most aw-inducing (as Lucy and Desi’s real life daughter appears), Mullally runs away with the most joyful and buoyant scene. 

The grape-stomping scene with Leslie Jordan is mostly silent and pure unadulterated silliness. It’s simply a marvel.

Will & Grace Season 11 Episode 16, "We Love Lucy"
WILL & GRACE — “We Love Lucy” Episode 316 — Pictured: (l-r) Eric McCormack as Will Truman/Ricky, Debra Messing as Grace Adler/Fred — (Photo by: Tina Thorpe/NBC)

There are other ways Will & Grace could have chosen to use this episode time; with so few episodes left before the show says goodbye (for real, this time), it would have been nice to spend more time with the actual characters we’ve grown to love over the years, not the characters in a schticky dream sequence.

Nevertheless, perhaps the show is trying not just to honor a comedy great, but convey hope about its own legacy. Could one day, far off in the future, a show do a Will & Grace tribute, highlighting all the ways it’s influenced comedy and its characters? Are the best comedies, after all, not inspired by the ones that came before them?

What did you think of this episode of Will & Grace ? How are you hoping things wrap up? And most importantly, who was your favorite Lucy of the night? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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[Total: 8 Average: 4.4]

 

Will & Grace airs Thursdays at 9:00/8:00c on NBC.

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Cristina is a Broadway enthusiast, book lover, and pop-culture fanatic living in New York City. She once won a Fantasy Bachelor contest (yes, like Fantasy Football, but for The Bachelor), and can banter about old school WB (Pacey + Joey FTW) just as well as Stranger Things and Pen15. She's still upset Benson and Stabler never got together and is worried Rollins and Carisi are headed down the same road, wants justice for Shangela, and hopes to one day walk-and-talk down a hallway with Aaron Sorkin.

2 comments

  • First, I have to say that McCormack’s Ricky Ricardo was horrible. I couldn’t tell if he sounded more like The Count (Sesame Street) like he did years ago or a stereotyped Italian accent. Second, the episode was too gratuitous without any substance… Just “I’m the Lucy” wasn’t a good basis… Especially after a “You’re the Grace” episode just recently. With this being the penultimate episode, I think there were better possibilities with more substance to bring about more closure to the series. “We Love Lucy” might have been better suited toward the beginning of the season.

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